Cancer diagnosis inspires former pilot to hit the skies

Monday

Ronnie Short had just turned 16 years old when he earned his driver’s license and pilot’s license on the same day in 1972.

Now 63 and facing esophageal cancer, the Casar native wanted to take to the sky one more time with his former flight instructor, Gene Meade.

“This is like something on your bucket list,” Short said. “I’ve always wanted to keep on flying, but I haven’t been able to. I just love it.”

Meade still serves as an instructor to this day, and he and Short have remained friends over the years. When Short got his cancer diagnosis in December, he knew he wanted to go back up with Meade.

“I told him I’d like to go one more time. He took care of everything else,” Short said.

Meade got in touch with Compass Aviation, a nonprofit that works to provide future missionary pilots and mechanics with the training they need. The organization provided the plane, and the plans were set for the flight.

Family and friends gathered at the Shelby-Cleveland County Regional Airport to watch Short and Meade take off and land again after a flight over Casar on Thursday, just a little over 47 years from the date Meade watched Short earn his license. Meade let Short take over the controls for parts of the flight.

“It just brought back a lot of old memories and good times,” Short said.

An early love of flying

Short was just a boy when he decided he first decided he wanted to fly, partly inspired by Meade’s flights over Cleveland County.

“I was working at my uncle’s store, and Gene would always come in and talk about flying and fly over the store and I’d just watch him,” Short said. “It just got me wanting to go flying, and once I did I got hooked.”

Short began taking flying lessons from Meade in August 1971.

He earned his driver’s license on the morning of his 16th birthday on April 23, 1972. He waited as long as the afternoon before heading to the Shelby Airport to secure his pilot’s license.

Meade still remembers that day. As he recalls, much of Short’s family was in attendance but his mother was not. She was too nervous to watch her son take on his first solo flight, a step required in earning the license.

Though it has been years since Short has flown, Meade wasn’t surprised to see his former student’s passion for aviation still intact.

“When you get into aviation, it never gets out of you,” Meade said.

One more task on the bucket list

Since his diagnosis, Short has dropped a significant amount of weight.

The cancer has prevented him from being able to eat on his own for the last three months. Instead, he has to use a feeding tube.

He said the cancer also makes him worry, but being up in the air erased that concern in an instant.

“It makes you forget your problems,” Short said.

With one last flight with his former instructor behind him, Short is done with half of the bucket list he made for himself. The second task is to get back on the horse, literally.

“I was raised on a horse. We had a horse when I was brought up. That’s another thing I’d like to do,” Short said.

Casey White can be reached at 704-669-3339 or cwhite@shelbystar.com.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.